Vietnam coffee export soars 57 percent

Vietnam estimated on Thursday its coffee export this month would soar 57 percent from last month to 110,000 tonnes, or 1.83 million bags, while growers have nearly finished the harvesting. A General Statistic Office report revised down actual shipment in November to 1.17 million bags from a previous estimate of 1.33 million bags but gave no reasons.
December's coffee export would bring the country's shipment in the first three months of its October 2007 to September 2008 crop year to 3.68 million bags, slightly down from 3.73 million bags in the same period last year. Vietnam is the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil and ranks the top in robusta production. One bags contains 60 kg of beans.
This month's shipment would bring the country's coffee export for the whole of this year to a record 1.19 million tonnes, or 19.9 million bags, a rise of 21.8 percent from a year earlier, the statistics office said. January to December's coffee revenues would jump 52.3 percent to $1.85 billion, making it Vietnam's top agricultural export product, followed by rice.
Higher coffee shipment this month came as farmers accelerated the harvest in the Central Highlands after rains had delayed the usual peak in late November of the harvesting. Now more than two-thirds of the country's robusta crop had been picked and traders said the harvest would be completed by early January as farmers were afraid of looting by migrant workers and local people as selling prices have jumped this year.
The harvest often starts in late October, peaks in late November and ends in mid-January. Robusta beans have firmed to between 27,800 dong and 28,000 dong ($1.73-$1.74) per kg in the past two days in the central highland province of Daklak, from 27,600-27,700 dong early this week and 27,400 dong last week.
Prices have risen 28 percent so far this year. The International Coffee Organisation estimated Vietnam's 2007/2008 crop to shrink to 15.95 million bags from 18.56 million bags in the previous season. Traders forecast the harvest at 20 million bags from 21 million bags in the previous crop year. As such Vietnam's coffee output would still make up 17 percent of the world's total of 116 million bags, according to the ICO's latest global output figure.